The present invention relates in general, in a work flow constituted by a sequence of a plurality of task processes, to a system in which data is inputted to an electronic computer as the result of the business processings through the task processes, and more particularly to a business processing system in which all the persons in charge of respective task processes hold in common a single notice board business system database and a method of processing the same.
In general, the business processing may be carried out in many cases through the business processing process constituted by a sequence of a plurality of task processes. When the process proceeds from a certain task process to a next task process, the data is delivered one after another through chits, documents and the like, thereby carrying out a series of business processes. In a work flow system utilizing an electronic computer, the information which is arranged in chits or documents is stored in a memory provided in the electronic computer and is delivered to the person in charge of the next task process via the data transmission through a network.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an example of a flow of a business process in the selling business. In the business process shown in FIG. 1, after the selling action has been carried out for a customer in order to carry out a deal, the specification, the price, the appointed delivery day and the like of a product are concretely estimated. Then, after having made contract with the customer, the arrangements for material supply, design and manufacture of a product, security of the stock, carrying-in step of a product, and the like for the associated sections are carried out. In addition, after a product has been delivered to a customer and then the acceptance is completed, the request and recovery of the price are carried out. The stages such as a deal and estimation correspond to task processes, respectively. According to the prior art, the delivery of the data from a certain task process to the next task process is carried out on the basis of the information which is arranged in chits. For this reason, the transmission of the information to the person in charge of the next task process is carried out at a time point when all the data on the chits becomes complete. Therefore, the person in charge of the subsequent task process can not be aware, until all the data on the chits has been decided, of the contents thereof. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 1, in the case where even if the contents of products are not decided yet in the steps of a deal and estimation, the person in charge of the delivery management wants to know the data of products as the undecided information, in the conventional method, the persons in charge of the subsequent task processes can not know that information at all. In addition, the data heads of the data which is inputted as the result of the business processing to an electronic computer are not necessarily decided in accordance with the flow of the business processing, and also which data head the data is decided from is not necessarily uniquely determined. For example, if the negotiations of the product specification progresses advancedly in the step of estimation in FIG. 1, then the data heads relating thereto are advancedly decided. Conversely, if the negotiations of the appointed delivery day progresses advancedly, then the data heads relating thereto are advancedly decided. According to the conventional method, however, if when the data heads have been decided, this fact is intended to be reported to the person in charge thereof in the related section, then the person in charge of the task process of interest needs to specify both the destination and data of the person in charge thereof in the related section on all such occasions in order to carry out the transmission processing, which results in the burden imposed on the person in charge of the task process being increased. This is a problem. In addition, according to the conventional method, since the so-called repetitive input is carried out in which the various kinds of chits are produced through a series of business processes and also the same data is repeatedly inputted to the different chits, the possibility that the mistake in the input is caused is increased and also the time required for inputting the needless data is taken.